Twice, the last days, a deer was seen making great leaps and bumping into doors and walls in the garden of a private individual in the city center of Vernon, in Eure, but also in the parking lot of the city hospital. “When we tried to control it, we realized that this animal had extremely high jumping abilities, assures Joanna, brigadier-chief of the municipal police. It jumps very, very high and it’s very lively.” The animal seemed to have lost its mind, as if intoxicated.
A “drunk” deer ventured into a residential area in the Eure: disoriented, he had just eaten euphoric buds. A common phenomenon in #spring. #30millionfriends recommends motorists to exercise caution on the roads. https://t.co/ZL5LJJ8ayl
— 30 Million Friends Foundation (@30millionsdamis) April 22, 2022
To calm this deer, it was necessary to surround it with barriers, blindfold it and tie its legs with the help of a dozen people, including Alain Coupet, lieutenant of wolf hunting in the Eure.
“They [les chevreuils] love to eat birch shootsconfirms this responsible for the regulation of wildlife. The fermentation of these shoots creates alcohol. They are fond of it because it is tender and juicy. Its good. It’s like this, we ate honey or sugar. We take a piece of cake, two pieces of cake, and so on!
“They eat these birch shoots without knowing how to stop. Afterwards they are drunk, but really drunk!”
Alain Coupetat franceinfo
The animals escaped the drunk tank and were released back into the forest unharmed. Similar reports are multiplying in Normandy but also in the east of the Massif Central or even inn Haute-Saone.
And if the phenomenon may of course seem surprising, deer are not the only animals that love artificial paradises. “Among elephants, it’s quite well known. Fermenting marula seeds make lines of alcoholic elephants, completely addicted”explains Marc Giraud, spokesperson for the Association for the Protection of Wild Animals (Aspas).
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This kind of behavior is also seen with bees.”when they go to sip slightly fermented nectar, notes the Aspas spokesperson. They arrive at the hive staggering. Wallabies, these small kangaroos, devastate the fields of medicinal poppy and end up completely stoned on the roads in Australia. Animals like to get off on more or less legal substances.”onincludes Marc Giraud.